TCPA Compliance

Operating within the Telephone Consumer Protection Act — the US federal law that governs commercial calls and SMS. Violations carry statutory damages of $500 per message, treble to $1,500 for willful violations. Plaintiffs' lawyers routinely file class actions.

Definition

TCPA compliance is the legal floor for any business sending commercial SMS in the US. The Act, plus FCC rules implementing it, generally requires prior express written consent for marketing texts — and the FCC has treated review-solicitation SMS as marketing rather than transactional. The statutory damages are uncapped on the upside (a class action over a few thousand unsolicited texts can blow into seven figures) and the legal threshold is strict liability — you don't need to have intended harm to be liable. The compliance basics: (1) get explicit written opt-in at the time you collect the phone number, separate from any other consent; (2) include 'Reply STOP to opt out' in every message; (3) honor STOP requests immediately and permanently; (4) keep records of every consent. When in doubt, talk to a lawyer.

Example

A restaurant sends review-request SMS to 5,000 customers based on phone numbers collected at reservations — without a separate marketing opt-in. A plaintiffs' firm files a class action alleging unsolicited marketing texts. Even if the case settles, the defense costs and settlement easily run six figures. The fix would have been a single checkbox at the reservation booking with explicit marketing-SMS opt-in language.

Related terms

  • 10DLC →10-Digit Long Code — the US carrier framework that allows legitimate business SMS from a normal 10-digit phone number, after the sender registers their brand and use case. Unregistered business SMS is heavily filtered as spam.
  • CAN-SPAM Compliance →Operating within the CAN-SPAM Act, the US federal law for commercial email. Requires accurate headers, a non-misleading subject line, a physical mailing address in the email, and a working unsubscribe mechanism. Statutory damages are up to $50,120 per non-compliant message (2024 inflation-adjusted figure; the FTC updates the cap periodically).
  • Review Request →A message sent to a customer (usually via SMS or email) asking them to leave a review of their recent experience. The message typically links to a review funnel or directly to the business's Google review page.

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